Celebrity Tattle: 'Thug

Showing posts with label 'Thug. Show all posts

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Rihanna's Tattoos: From Stars To 'Thug Life'

MTV News looks back at singer's extensive history with body art.By Jocelyn Vena (@jocelyn1212)

Rihanna had everyone buzzing this week when she debuted a tattoo with the words "Thug Life" scrolled across her famous fingers. The flesh-colored ink was done up by Los Angeles tat artist Mark Mahoney at the Shamrock Social Club parlor in Hollywood. While the body art pays tribute to late rapper Tupac, it is certainly not the first time that Rihanna has gotten a tattoo.

In fact, the singer is no novice. She's already covered in ink, ranging from the sugary sweet to the more hard-core.

She made headlines back in 2009 when she debuted a gun tattoo on her rib cage. Rihanna's tattoo was scandalous as it came only months after her Grammy-night altercation with her ex, Chris Brown. "People are going to react all different ways," tat artist BangBang explained to MTV News at the time, noting that it had been in the works long before the incident. "She's great. She's perfect. We had a blast, and we had a lot of fun."

BangBang and Rihanna have quite the history together when it comes to the many tats on her body. He is also responsible for the star tattoos on her back, the Roman numerals on her shoulder and the word "Shhh ... " on her finger.

But Rihanna hasn't stopped there. She has also been branded with a musical note on her ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear, the word "love" on her middle finger and a tribal tattoo on her hand. She reportedly has the birthday of her manager Melissa Forde written in Roman numerals on her shoulder: XI-IV-LXXXVI. As an homage to her perfume line she also has the French words for rebellious flower, "rebelle fleur," on her neck.

The singer also has a Sanatana Dharma Sanskrit prayer on her right hip.

Reportedly misspelled, the phrase was supposed to mean "forgiveness, honesty, suppression and control," but actually ends up meaning "long suffering, truthfulness, self-restraint, inward calm, fear and fearlessness."

On her rib cage, she also has the Arabic phrase "Al Hurria fi Al Maseeh," which means "Freedom in God." Proving to be some sort of billboard for sage advice, she also has the motto "Never a Failure, Always a Lesson" scrolled across her collarbone.Other Ri tats include a star in her ear and a skull and cross bone on her ankle.

In fact, Rihanna loves tattoos so much that in July 2009, she was spotted giving BangBang a tattoo at New York's East Side Ink, where he works. Owner Yadira said at the time, "We had a blast. It was so funny and cute."

When BangBang spoke to MTV News in 2009, he added this philosophy when it comes to tatting the singer: "You don't want to be staring at tats. You want to be staring at her face."

Rihanna's "Thug Life" tattooPhoto: Rihanna/Twitter

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Rihanna Tweets Up About Her 'Thug Life' Tattoo

Singer takes to Twitter to talk about her buzzed-about Tupac-inspired ink.By Jocelyn Vena (@jocelyn1212)

When Rihanna tweeted out a photo of her new "Thug Life" tattoo scrolled across her fingers on Wednesday, fans immediately began to flood the singer with tweets, asking her why she got it and what it all means. She tweeted photos of herself at the Shamrock Social Club parlor in Hollywood with tattoo artist Mark Mahoney, as well as actor Danny Trejo, who was also at the tattoo parlor that night.

"I #LOVE my new tattoo!!! Can't wait for yall to see it!!! I got it in 'Tibetan' this time!!! #approved," she wrote of her white-toned tat, an homage to rapper Tupac.

Rihanna met most criticism or praise with a sense of humor about her latest ink. "Chill babes #noshade. Err'body has an opinion, but yall know what yall can do with them!!! #THUGLIFE," she wrote.

"I'm thinking I shoulda got a tear drop instead!!! #THUGLIFE maybe next time," Rihanna later tweeted, joking about the possibility of getting the traditional prison tat on her famous face. "All eyes on Rih, betta picture me rollin' #THUGLIFE."

But the tweets hardly stopped there, and they progressively got more provocative, especially when one of her followers tweeted, "You're not a thug. stop it."

Later declaring "#RIHPac back!!!," she continued to go on her tat-driven Twitter spree, adding, "I can't deny it, ima riot..u don't wanna f--- with me!"

In another tweet, the star said, "NEVER!!! RT @Fiend4sports: @rihanna Thug Life!! Don't let Pac memory ever die."

What do you think of Rihanna's "Thug Life" tattoo? Sound off in the comments below!

Rihanna tweets 'Thug Life' tattoo photoPhoto: Rihanna/Twitter

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RihannaComments Chelsea (1/26/2012 4:13:01 PM)

she lives in a media bubble surrounded by body guards. SHE IS ANYTHING BUT A THUG LOL.

AmandaAllStar5 (1/26/2012 3:55:32 PM)

After reading about this,I think we all owe Chris Brown an apology.

porkbomb (1/26/2012 12:48:00 PM)

nothing says thug life like wearing a John Lennon T Shirt

porkbomb (1/26/2012 12:47:28 PM)

nothing says thug life like wearing a John Lennon T-Shirt

jellybeen (1/26/2012 12:38:18 PM)

Downward spiral in 5, 4, 3, 2......

ohaudra (1/26/2012 11:31:49 AM)

LOL this girl is an idiot & not a thug.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Rihanna's 'Thug Life' Joins List Of Hip-Hop Tattoo Tributes

Nas, Snoop and Game have all paid homage to other MCs with body art.By Gil Kaufman

Rihanna has raised a lot of eyebrows this week with her latest body modification: a tattoo that reads "Thug Life", in honor of late hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur. While 'Pac had the words emblazoned across his abdomen, Rihanna opted to write them across her knuckles in what appears to be glow-in-the-dark ink.

Say what you will about whether the pop princess is living the kind of rising-up-from-the-streets life Shakur was honoring by splashing the name of his crew across his stomach, but she joins a long list of musicians who've used body art to pay homage to fallen homeys or musical inspirations.

When hip-hip hookmaster Nate Dogg died last year, his old friend and collaborator Snoop Dogg had an image of Nate's face with the legend "All Doggs Go to Heaven" written on his arm as a remembrance of the G-funk singer. And while Faith Evans once proudly bore a heart-shaped tattoo that read "B.I.G." in honor of her then-husband Biggie Smalls. (After the couple split, however, she added some ink so it read "B.I.G. FAYE.")

After his best friend and fellow D12 member was shot and killed in 2006, Eminem filled the space on his left forearm with a giant "Proof" tat encircled with flames. Fellow Detroit MC Kid Rock has the name of his former bandmate, Joe C., on his body as well, in honor of the hype man who passed away in 2000.

Drake got in the game last year when he reportedly added a portrait of late singer Aaliyah to his collection of back ink. Well before that, Nas paid a sideways tribute to Tupac with his "God's Son" stomach piece, which paid homage to both the fallen MC and to Nasty Nas' nickname.

But an artist doesn't need to have passed on to get the tribute treatment, as evidenced by D12 member Bizarre's love letter to Nicki Minaj, which he added to his collection last year in the form of a head shot of the female MC rocking blue hair. And while Game is no stranger to face-to-toe ink, he made a serious commitment in 2009 when he got the logo from producer/rapper Pharrell's Star Trak label on his arm while he worked with Williams on his The R.E.D. Album.

What do you think of Rihanna's knuckle tattoo? Sound off on our Facebook page!

RihannaPhoto: Rihanna/Twitter

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